Horsham Boxing Club’s show is packed full of action

The night was packed full of action, with 13 evenly matched, competitive bouts, with 11 of those representing Horsham Boxing Club.

The night commenced with two skills bouts which give young boxers the opportunity to showcase their skills in a contest with there being no winner. Archie Draper of Horsham was up first against Jay Twilley from Epsom Boxing Academy. From the first bell, Archie dominated, landing clean combinations, and working on the front foot. With it being a skills bout, at the end of the first round Archie was instructed to use only his lead hand for the remainder of the bout. With a comfortable and impressive performance for the young Horsham boxer, both lads had their hands raised at the end of the fight.

Up next was 15-year-old 100kg and 6ft 3 boxer, James Wenman from Horsham who also competed in a skills contest against Willenhall ABC’s Alfie Harrison. James came out strong, starting with a fast pace and catching Harrison with a variety of punches. Although under pressure, the Willenhall boxer continued to trade with Wenman, with both boys trading and catching their opponent. The second round was much of the same as James impressed with his boxing and engine to push through the round whilst continuously letting his hands go. In the final round, both lads were showing signs of tiredness after what was a good, competitive contest and, again, both had their hands raised at the final bell.

The first scoring contest of the evening was Horsham Boxing Club’s Ferad Yetik of only 11 years of age and 27kg, facing Daniel Promislovs of Westree ABC. Having had 3 skills and now in his second competitive bout, Ferad began the bout demonstrating his talented boxing skills as he glided around the ring with quick footwork and worked on landing counter punches on the move. Young Horsham Boxer, Ferad, continued with his counter attack, moving light on his feet, whilst Westree’s Promislovs worked on the front foot. At the final bell, Daniel Promislovs was declared the winner in what was a close bout.

Next to box was Jake Durrant, who had his first bout just two weeks ago, in which he willingly took on late notice and won impressively for the club on an away show. This time, on his home show, Durrant faced Russell Walicki of Royal Resistance who held the more experienced record of the two. Despite this, Jake came out strong, landing crisp punches to the head and body, as he moved lightly on his feet. Walicki put the pressure on, as expected from the more experienced boxer, but Jake did not let this phase him and kept composed, continuing to land clean combinations on the boxer from Royal Resistance. All three rounds were much of the same with the fight remaining close throughout, and at the end of the bout, Jake Durrant was announced the winner.

Last year’s Southern Counties Schoolboy champion, Charlie Perry was next to represent Horsham Boxing Club against Borehamwood Boxing Club’s Joe Prestedge. Charlie started aggressively, catching his opponent with a right hand, left hook combination which shook Prestedge, instantly forcing him onto the back foot from the first two punches of the contest. Charlie kept the pressure on, trying to work on the front foot and moving out of the way of his opponent’s shots as he continued to land with ease to head and body. In spite of Charlie’s constant pressure, the Borehamwood boxer continued to fight. However, after a strong, dominant performance, it was Charlie who took home the win by unanimous decision.

Will Groves up next for Horsham in his first bout, having showed constant improvements in the gym. Groves of Horsham faced Alistair Eede of Ringwood and Verwood Boxing in his debut in amateur boxing. Will showed his strength from the off, as he caught Eede with sharp, scoring blows from the first bell, forcing his opponent to work, using his boxing abilities against the tough Horsham boxer. The rounds were close and Will kept landing combinations, although Eede continued to use his boxing skills. At the final bell, after a close fight and both boys proving successful in different approaches, Alistair Eede was awarded the victory.

Horsham’s Phelan Jeffrey was next to box, facing off against Adhurim Latifi from Stonebridge ABC. Latifi came out strong, trying to catch Phelan as he used an aggressive approach, but Phe was unphased as he began his attack, landing eye-catching punches and shocking his opponent who was forced onto the ropes. In the second round, Phelan came out with his aggressive approach, working on the front foot and hurting Latifi as he targeted the head and body. The ref was left with no option but to give Latifi a standing 8 count as the Stonebridge boxer looked to struggle with the relentless pressure that Phelan was applying. Phe used this in his favour and sustained his attack, meaning the ref had to jump in and give Latifi another standing 8 count, but this time the boxer from Stonebridge did not look up to continuing and the ref waved off the contest, declaring Phelan the winner.

The next Horsham boxer was Tom Creasey, making his return for the club, with his first bout in 6 years. Tom was feeling up for the challenge as he thrived off of the occasion. Having only boxed as a junior, Tom had a new experience of boxing as a senior and was set to face Aaron Infante from IQ Boxing Academy. Tom displayed his boxing skills and aggressiveness, as he used his longer reach and in and out movement to land on his opponent with ease. The tough boxer from IQ remained resilient, but Tom controlled the contest throughout. At the final bell, Tom Creasey was rightfully awarded the victory by unanimous decision in his return to boxing.

Also making his return for Horsham Boxing Club in his first bout in 8 years was Harry Orsini who was up against Max Davie of Fight Hub Felbridge. Harry used his head movement, as he knew he had to stay disciplined against the much taller Davie, making use of his skillful movement and targeting the body. Despite Max Davie working hard and throwing plenty of punches, Harry had him working hard and hitting thin air. Harry controlled the bout over the three rounds, leaving Davie hardly able to land a punch on him. With all three rounds proceeding the same, Harry took the win by unanimous decision.

Oscar Nicholls was up next who made his return to the ring 2 weeks ago, taking a fight on short notice with a comfortable win. Oscar faced Raif Valery from Westree ABC in what was a hard-fought contest from both boxers. Oscar started well, working on the front foot and catching Westree’s Raif Valery with crisp punches, but Valery began to use his boxing skills and fought back, forcing Oscar onto the back foot. As the bout went on the same, Oscar showed his toughness and was still landing his own punches but at the end of the fight it was Valery who was declared the winner.

The final bout of the night was Horsham’s well-liked Zack Treliving who never fails to disappoint. As well as it being the final fight of the night, it was also Zack’s final bout who started boxing one and a half years and was able to build up an impressive record of 3 wins from 4 fights. In what would be his final fight, Zack was up against Michael Speller from St. Marys ABC. Zack lived up to his reputation in what was a cracking bout with both boxers giving their all with a buzzing crowd cheering on the boxer from Horsham. Zack was using his good defensive head movement to move out of the way of Speller’s punches and counter with solid shots of his own. As the Horsham boxer kept controlled and out-landed on his opponent, Zack took the win by unanimous decision, much to the fans excitement as they celebrated the win as their own.

A successful night of boxing for Horsham Boxing Club was witnessed by some great support of all ages. Despite suffering a few pull outs on the day of the show, with Horsham captain Noah Jolly unfortunately having his opponent drop out only a couple of hours before, the club still managed to run the event smoothly as Noah would have to watch on and support his team mates from outside of the ring.

It was also great to have boxers from the club’s ‘Mini Mayhem’ class, which is for kids aged 5 to 10, in attendance to see the action and observe what could be them in years to come.

Also in attendance was professional boxer and English Title holder, Zak Chelli, who fights for the European title on Sunday, November 27 in London. Zak kindly came to hand out trophies to the competing boxers and his appearance was gratefully received by all.

Horsham Boxing Club would like to thank everyone who attended and came to show their support and to all of the England Boxing Officials who helped the show to run smoothly. The club would also like to congratulate all of the boxers who got in the ring and particularly the Horsham boxers who, once again, did the club proud.